School Competition
by DaughterOfNike2414
Summary: AU Hunger Games fic, with the characters meeting at school, falling in love, etc. I've seen lots of these before, but this one has "The Hunger Games" in it; except it's in the form of a sort of mini-Olympics. Rated T for language


**Chapter I: ****Katniss**

I groaned, loudly. "Mom, do I really need to help you find a new school for me?"

She whirled around in her black computer chair, and her piercing blue eyes bored into my gray ones. "Katniss, you were expelled from your boarding school. I thought you could do better than that. I'm taking time off work to help you do this. You got sent to a better school, and what do you do? You get yourself expelled."

She turned back around to face her computer, and I sighed. There was no point in arguing, even though this was wasting a perfectly good day.

Pulling our piano bench over - Primrose, my little sister, plays - I asked, "Why don't I just go to Prim's school then? I could start on Monday."

She considered it. "You mean that District 12 school? That might actually not be so bad of an idea. But are you sure?"

District 12 was a nice school, and the ages of the students ranged from 12-18. It was one of the 12 schools in our area, Panem, that didn't have auditions to get in. D12 also had the lowest standards, so it was the easiest to pass. There also weren't that many kids in attendance; roughly 300 total.

"Yeah, I'm sure. Gale goes there. And besides, I could do archery for The Hunger Games; Prim said that they just added that to the program this year."

The Hunger Games was a Panem competition, with about 20 different events, most of them involving some kind of weapon. Whoever won the most events was known as a 'Victor' for as long as they lived in Panem, no matter how old they got. It was always broadcasted on TV, so the thing was really nerve-wracking.

My mom sighed. "Well, if you really want to..."

I pumped my fist in the air. "Yes!" In truth, I honestly didn't care what school I would go to, as long as I didn't have to go through a list of possibilities with my mom.

I ran up to my room. It was painted a light, gray-ish blue color, similar to the color of my eyes. My bed was shoved to the upper right corner of the room, and a forest green sheet covered it. There was a white desk nestled by the footboard, and on the left of the desk a bookshelf was crammed up against the wall. My closet was considerably small, with two doors that opened up to reveal it. The rest of the room consisted of a nightstand, covered with junk, and a beanbag. Dirty clothes and junk lay strewn across my carpet.

"Where are those stupid tennis shoes?" I muttered, as I searched around. I was planning to go to Gale's house so I could tell him the news. Of course, I had a cell phone and could've just texted him, but since he lived just a few houses down the street, I usually didn't.

Finally I found them, and, after I slipped them on, flashed outside. My mom wouldn't worry; she'd assume that I was either taking a walk or at Gale's house, although when I did leave without telling her she did call my cell phone every hour to see if I was okay.

I jogged down the familiar sidewalk, my feet falling into an instinctive, natural rhythm. I had gone down this road so many times I could've navigated it perfectly with my eyes closed. Well, as long as there wasn't anything in the way.

I got to the tan house that belonged to Gale and his family, and knocked five times, in a special pattern. When anybody in the house heard it, they knew it was me.

Footsteps sounded from inside. When the door opened, I was greeted by Gale's smiling face. He had dark hair, gray eyes, and an olive skin tone that most people around here had. Light stubble coated his chin. Even when we first met, he already looked like a man - tall and broad.

"Hey Catnip!" he said cheerfully. I was so shy when we first met that Gale thought I said my name was Catnip. He called me that since.

"Hey Gale," I replied, then strode into the familiar house. The scent of chocolate and strawberries reached my nose.

Gale's three younger siblings - 12-year-old Rory, 10-year-old Vick, and 4-year-old Posy - were sitting at their dining table eating strawberries dipped in chocolate.

"Hey Posy, hey Vick, hey Rory!" I told them.

Vick and Rory replied, while Posy just smiled angelically at me, her mouth stuffed with strawberries and chocolate. I laughed, then grabbed one for myself, dipped it in the bowl of chocolate, and scarfed it down.

"So Catnip, why'd you come over?" Gale asked.

I held up my index finger, in the gesture for 'wait.' Then I swallowed the leaf-less strawberry I had in my mouth and said, "I'm going to go to your school."

He looked surprised. "Really? Why don't you try out for District 2 instead? Your archery would definitely make it."

I shrugged. "Too... I don't know, just... Not my type, ya know? And besides, I could say that about your snares and traps."

He nodded. "True, true."

We lapsed into silence, while I just kept eating strawberries. The kitchen had light blue walls, an oven with a stovetop, a kettle, and a bunch of honey-colored wood cabinets.

Hazelle, Gale's mom, walked into the room. "Oh, hi Katniss," she greeted, totally unsurprised to see me. That's how often I'd visited Gale's house.

"Hi, Hazelle."

After a while, when I reached for my 15th strawberry, little Posy smacked my hand. "No!" she said.

I laughed. "Why?"

"You ate too many strawberries," she said, trying to be accusing.

I sighed, faking disappointment, then got up and adjusted my headband.

"Okay, Posy." My phone rang.

I checked the Caller ID, and it was my mom. I answered.

"Mom, I'm fine."

"No, no, Katniss, you have to go to school now. They want to interview you, and if you don't go today then you can't be in The Hunger Games. Hurry!"

I clicked off the phone and started leaving. Gale didn't question why, he just opened the door. He knew me well enough to know that if I left without saying goodbye then it would be something urgent.

Thankfully, D12 wasn't too far from here; a 10-minute walk, which I could compact into 3-5 minutes if I sprinted. Of course, I could go home and drive, but that would just be a waste.

A mental map formed as I ran. Straight, until Miner Avenue, then turn left until 74th Street, make a right, there, on the left. The school appeared before me, a twisting mass of brick.

Panting, I jogged to the main entrance and went in. I'd taken Prim here plenty of times and helped guide her through the hallway, since I used to go to school here.

I pushed open the door marked 'Office', and sat down in a chair. The principal, Mr. Undersee, turned around. He was a balding old man, with a daughter named Madge here. She was one of my only friends.

"Ah, Katniss. I see you want to come back?"

"Yeah," I replied evenly.

"Well, I just need you to fill this out for The Hunger Games, and you're set!"

I cocked an eyebrow. "You couldn't've sent this to my house?"

"It's easier this way."

Shrugging, I complied. It was just basic information, like date of birth, height, weight, age, gender, etc. I finished it fairly quickly, and handed it to Mr. Undersee. He looked it over briefly, then nodded, satisfied. "Tomorrow, when you come, make sure that you check in here first, so you can get a schdule of your classes, your locker, and the necessary textbooks. You may go."

I jogged out, waving. Since it was a Sunday, the hallways were deserted. My hair had fallen out of it's braid on the way here, so I stopped in the girl's bathroom to redo it. Not that I really cared about how I looked, but it helped keep my hair out of my face. The braid was an inside-out French braid, spiraling from the top left corner of the back of my head to the bottom right, then continued on in a reverse braid, falling over my shoulder. I braided my hair _under_ instead of over, so it stuck out on my head, instead of fitting in. Tucking the rest of my hair back with my gray headband, I walked out of the bathroom...

Only to crash into someone. He was coming from the boy's bathroom, although why anyone would be here on a _Sunday_ was beyond me.

"Oh! Sorry," he apologized.

"It's fine," I replied, then continued to scrutinize him. He had honest blue eyes, filled with compassion and... Just... Nice-ness. I was pretty sure that he was new - if he had been here before, I fairly certain that I would've remembered him.

He shifted uncomfortably under my intense stare. The fact that I have steel gray eyes probably didn't help. "Uh... What's your name?"

"Katniss."

"Like the plant?"

"Yeah."

"Unusual name, but who am I kidding? I was named after bread. Peeta," he said, holding his hand out.

I shook it. "Are you competing in The Hunger Games?"

"Yeah, I'm doing strength and camouflage."

_Camouflage? _I wondered, before saying, "That's cool."

He laughed. "No one ever really thinks that."

We lapsed into a friendly silence. This boy, Peeta, was just... Impossible to hate. He was too open, too nice, too friendly.

"Well, I gotta run. See you sometime?" he asked.

"Yeah. I was just filling out forms for The Hunger Games, since I want to compete. Why were you here anyway?"

"Oh, just getting help on a project."

He turned and left, shoes squeaking on the tile.

I walked around until I found the entrance and shoved the doors open, marching out and jogging home.

"Mom, I'm in!" I announced excitedly.

"Great, Katniss," she replied absentmindedly.

As I was walking up the stairs, I heard the unmistakable sound of the garage door opening. It was Prim and my dad, back from where he was teaching her how to fish.

I got to the kitchen just as Prim exclaimed excitedly, "Katniss! Look what I got today!" She proudly held up a crappie.

"Geez, Prim, when you pulled it up, did that nearly drag you in? It's huge!"

She laughed, then set it on the kitchen table. Dad came inside, bringing with him the smell of fish. He plopped down on the table.

"I swear, Prim's good at just about anything," he said.

"Oh, yeah, definitely," I agreed.

Prim smiled. She looked so much like Mom, with the same honey-gold hair and blue eyes, making her look like an angel.

A soft mew reached our ears, and I turned around to see Buttercup, our cat, crawling in through the cat flap. He was such a hideous cat, with a smashed-in nose, half an ear missing, eyes the color of a rotting squash, and a muddy yellow coat. I don't even know why Prim insisted on calling him Buttercup - she somehow believed that his ugly fur matched the color of the flower. I thought that that was just plain insulting to the pretty flower.

Prim ran over to hug him, and I squatted down to pet him a few times. Buttercup and I used to hate each other, but now we get along okay.

He purred contentedly, and Prim and I smiled. I stood up and stretched, walking back up to my room to text Gale and tell him why I left so fast.

_'Hey Gale'_ I sent him.

His reply came instantly. _'Hey Catnip'_

_'My name is Katniss'_ I told him.

_'*eye roll* Anyway, why'd you leave so fast'_

_'School enrollment'_

_'You made it right'_

_'Of course I didn't'_

_'WHAT?!'_

_'JK Gale'_

_'Geez I thought you were serious'_

_'Haha lol'_

_'Gtg sorry bye'_

_'Bye'_ I sent, and then turned off my iPhone 4S.

I turned to my closet to try and find something to wear tomorrow, then thought, _Screw it. I'll just wear this._

I had on gray sweatpants and a turquoise short-sleeved shirt, plus my headband. Good enough for school, in my opinion.

I was actually pretty excited for tomorrow - The Hunger Games classes began tomorrow. Even though I was pretty sure that I was well-prepared with my archery, I decided to make sure.

Running down to the basement, I grabbed my archery equipment and ran outside to the backyard, where all of my dad and my targets and stuff were. I yanked the waterproof cover off of everything.

~/(:||:)\~

After an hour of pulling the bowstring back and releasing, I couldn't feel my fingers. I decided that that was enough practice for one day, so I retrieved the arrows - all bull's eyes - and brought my bow and quiver back in the house, after covering everything with the tarp again.

Prim was standing just inside the door, watching me with admiration in her eyes. "Katniss, can you teach me how to shoot?"

I laughed and smiled. "Sure, Prim. Not today, though; my fingers are too sore."

She laughed too. "Okay."

An obnoxious complaint came from my stomach, and when I checked my watch, I saw that it was about 3 o' clock. I realized that I was starving, since I'd skipped lunch. The only thing I ate from breakfast to now were those fourteen - almost-fifteen - strawberries at Gale's house.

I went to our kitchen and rifled through our cabinets, looking for a snack to eat. Since there wasn't anything in there, I searched our freezer and dug out some ice cream. It was getting warmer every day; today was March 23rd. The Hunger Games started on the fourth Monday of April, so there was roughly a month left before the actual competition.

There were 12 schools, each named District 1, District 2, D3, D4, etc. There used to be a District 13, too, but it shut down. Nobody knew why. D1, D2, and D4 were the 3 schools that held auditions to get accepted, and they were usually the schools where the Victors came from.

Nobody really kept track of when The Hunger Games started, so everyone just said that this was the 74th Hunger Games, even though that wasn't true.

My rumbling stomach yanked me out of my thoughts, so I grabbed a spoon, sat down at the table, and dug in to the carton of ice cream without a bowl. Before long, I had devoured half the carton.

When my mom walked into the kitchen to grab a drink and saw the ice cream, she sighed. "Why do you have to have such a fast metabolism?"

I laughed. "Well, at least I can satisfy my stomach without getting fat."

"Yes, but now I need to go satisfy my creditors and spend more money on ice cream."

Shrugging, I didn't say anything, and cleaned up the table.

My mom took her drink back to the computer room, leaving me alone, with nothing to do.

"Prim!" I called.

She came quickly. "What?"

"What do you want to do?"

"Can I dress you up and choose what you should wear tomorrow?"

I didn't really care, so I said yes. She squealed excitedly, and I couldn't help but smile. Prim also decided to call Madge over.

A few minutes later, I heard our doorbell ring. Prim answered it, and let Madge in. I smiled. "Hey Madge."

"Hey Katniss," she replied.

"C'mon!" Prim grabbed our wrists and practically dragged us up the stairs. Dang, for such a scrawny kid, she had some real strength.

We were pulled up into her room, which wasn't too girly. At least her favorite color wasn't pink.

"Oh wait!" she said. "We gotta go to your room first, Katniss."

"Madge and I can wait here." I told her, and she agreed.

A few minutes later, she came back, holding a navy blue pair of skinny jeans, and a gray tank top decorated with sequins.

I sighed. This was going to be a while...

"Guys! Wait! Can I at least get my phone so I can text Gale while you're doing this?"

"Sure, as long

~/(:{||}:)\~

"Wow Prim. How did you do that?" Madge asked, sounding completely shocked.

"I just play around with makeup a lot," she shrugged modestly.

I texted Gale as Madge and Prim kept talking.

_'Well, they finished the makeup and stuff'_

_'What do you look like?'_

_'IDK I haven't checked yet'_

Which reminded me...

I coughed loudly. "Ahem. Can I look at myself now?"

"Oh yeah!" Prim said.

I turned around and opened my eyes. First, it was nothing like those cliché stories where _Ohmygod, I can't recognize myself_ happened. It was unmistakably me.

The gray tank top I had on was a light silver at the one-inch wide straps, and faded to a dark gray, almost-black. There were ruffled layers, and each layer got darker and darker. Sequins decorated the whole thing. The jeans were just dark blue skinny jeans, really convenient for me to just tuck into my combat boots.

I had on really light silver eyeshadow, and just enough black eyeliner to make my eyes pop. Well, the tank top already did that, since it matched my eye color, but the eyeliner made it show up even more. Prim had put on such a light layer of mascara that my dark brown eyelashes looked really long, but still natural. And of course, my eyebrows were plucked. I had _no idea_ how Prim knew about eyebrow plucking and stuff, but she did. There was a slight coating of pink lipstick on my lips, and overall, I thought that it was amazing.

Now I could definitely see why Madge was so amazed. I didn't know that Prim could do makeup so well.

I sighed. "Prim, you do realize that you're going to have to redo this all tomorrow morning, right?"

"Yeah, but now that I've tried it, it's not going to take that long to do again."

"Geez, Prim. I need to take classes from you," Madge said.

Prim smiled shyly.

"I can't believe it took until dinnertime to just finish this!" I exclaimed, when I looked at my watch.

"Yeah, well, _someone_ wouldn't stay still, so I kept messing up and having to redo it! As long as you're not like that tomorrow morning, Katniss," Prim complained, "then it'll barely be five minutes."

I rolled my eyes. "C'mon, Madge, you can eat dinner with us."

~/(:{||}:)\~

An obnoxious beeping woke me up from my much-needed rest. Lazily, I flipped over onto my stomach and flailed my hand around uselessly, trying to snooze my alarm clock. I hit a piece of paper instead, so I groggily picked it up. It said, _Nice try, Katniss. Get up and find your alarm. xx -Prim_

I groaned, but complied. Not like I would be able to fall asleep again with that stupid noise. _What ungodly hour was this anyway_? I wondered.

Finally, I found my alarm clock in the mess that I consider a room. It was stuffed inside my nightstand drawer, so close, but it required enough effort for my brain to wake up. The clock read 6:45 am.

Dammit. School today.

Hauling myself to my feet, I glanced around the room for the outfit that Prim picked out yesterday. Finally, I found it, laid out perfectly on the orange chair. I grabbed it and slipped it on, as Prim came walking into my room perfectly dressed and makeup free. Mom let her play with makeup, but she wasn't allowed to wear it unless it was some kind of special occasion.

Prim wordlessly grabbed my arm and pulled me out of my room and into hers, even though I hadn't even brushed my hair yet. I sat down in the blue spinny chair, but Prim objected.

"Katniss, wash your face first."

"Yeah, I would've remembered, if a certain _someone_ hadn't set my alarm clock to ungodly hour o' clock!"

She rolled her eyes and handed me a washcloth.

I walked into Prim's bathroom, and after splashing water on my face and rubbing it with the towel, I felt much more awake. I went back into Prim's room, and sat down in her blue chair.

The entire makeup process was repeated again, minus the eyebrow plucking. And it did take a lot less time than the previous night. Before long, Prim shoved me out of the chair. "See? That didn't take long!"

I looked in the mirror briefly, and the results were the same as last night. Well, my hair was down, unbrushed, and messy, but basically the same.

Prim ordered me back to my room so I could brush and braid my hair, so I did. While I was braiding, I wondered why D12 had to start at 7:30. My other school started at 8:30, and since I never bothered with makeup and all that crap I could sleep in until 8:15. It was a boarding school, so the dorms were connected to the regular classrooms.

When I finally got my hair in it's braid, I grabbed my gray headband from yesterday and slipped it on. Then I put my black combat boots on and went downstairs, where my mom was making breakfast.

Prim was already at the kitchen table, eating the scrambled eggs and toast. I grabbed a plate and started eating too. Within minutes, I was done.

Grabbing my practically empty backpack, I was about to leave when Prim called me back. "Your bow, Katniss! And wait for me!"

I ran down to the basement, grabbed my bow and quiver, and then leaned against our white front door. "Hurry up!"

"Coming!" Prim called back. She grabbed her little backpack and put her faded neon blue Converse on. We left the house, and, even though I was itching to sprint all the way to school, I had to walk because of Prim. I didn't mind, though.

I heard footsteps behind us, and when I turned, I saw Gale. He looked surprised for a second, but got over it quickly. "Hey Catnip!"

"Hey," I replied.

"Hi Gale!" Prim says brightly. "Shouldn't you wait for Rory?"

He looked behind him sheepishly, and saw his 12-year-old brother trying to catch up. He stopped walking, rubbed the back of his neck embarrassedly, and said, "Oh... Whoops. Sorry Rory!"

Rory gave him the evil-eye, but then smiled. "It's okay, Gale."

I laughed. "Wow, Gale, forgetting your own little brother."

He whacked my arm lightly. "Shut up!"

We all laughed, then continued walking to school.

~/(:{||}:)\~

So many boys were staring at me. I mean, this was the class for The Hunger Games, and most of the boys were 17 or 18, so I should've expected something like this, since I was the only girl here. The good thing was, Peeta and Gale were both here too. The teacher, a Victor named Haymitch Abernathy, was trying to teach us. Nobody except Gale and I were really paying attention, and I kept getting distracted by the stares directed at me.

Actually, this technically wasn't a class, because it was in the special gym built for The Hunger Games, but yeah. Haymitch - he didn't want us calling him Mr. Abernathy - finally told us to go to our most comfortable stations. Since I'd brought my bow and quiver of arrows, I just went over to the targets and started shooting. I mean, they did provide bows and arrows, but I'd been working with mine for so long I wasn't sure if I _could _use another one. The targets were human-shaped, with points labeling the parts that, when hit, would be fatal.

Every shot I made would have killed. Well, if it was a person. When Haymitch finally noticed me, I had already gone to collect my arrows.

"If you can shoot that well, you should be in D2."

Gale just looked at me like, _told you so._

I stuck my tongue out and continued getting my arrows. "Yeah, I could've tried," I replied, to Haymitch.

"Why not?"

I shrugged, and yanked my last arrow out. "Do you have any moving targets?"

He nodded, and went to get them. They were fake birds, but they actually worked and could fly. Haymitch threw one in the air, and I shot it down immediately. He threw two at a time, and I pinned those against the wall. When three at a time came, I still had no trouble. The next time, all four birds fell. Apparently there were only 15 birds, because the last five were thrust into the air and came back down instantly.

The gym was dead silent. I glanced around and noticed everyone just staring at me. "What?" I asked, self-consciously.

Haymitch grinned. "With your shooting skills, we'll definitely be able to win archery."

* * *

**A/N: Hey guys! So, this is my new Hunger Games fanfic.  
Yes, I did delete my Max Ride fanfic, but I had serious writer's block. Sorry!  
Okay, so I'm really hoping that I'll have better writing luck with this story. I haven't seen any fanfics with this particular idea yet, and I just decided to give it a try.  
Updates will probably take a while, since I'm not used to writing such long chapters.  
Reviews, constructive criticism, flames, whatever, it's all welcome! This is probably going to be the only long A/N in the story, since I need to get this first chapter explained and stuff.  
Also... This goes for the whole story: Disclaimer: I do not own The Hunger Games.  
Yes, there will be POV switches. Next chapter is Clove.  
This is only a rough draft, so when the entire story is completed, I will edit the whole thing and re-post the chapters.  
**

***Note from 7/8/13: Yeah... Sorry guys. I know it's been a while, but I am writing the second chapter. ANYHOO... Yeah, there actually IS a type of fish named Crappie. My parents really like to eat that kind of fish... Okay, I promise the second chapter will be up sometime in the next 1-2 weeks. And I'm kinda going back and editing the story now, just cause I felt like it sucked, so...**


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